Dolphins tell Thomas he must hit hole harder

The common thinking for anyone with eyes who has seen Daniel Thomas run this preseason is that while he may become a good player down the road, the rookie still has to adjust to the NFL game.

Thomas, you see, is a former quarterback. He made the transition to running back at Kansas State and now is making the transition to pro football. That's a lot of transitioning. So he has some learning to do.

He needs to be more physical.

He needs to run with more explosion.

He needs to get his shoulders squared, his pad level low and his legs churning.

In lay terms, he needs to bust up in there.

I told you this Sunday after watching Thomas be somewhat tentative on two and-goal runs from the 1 yard line versus Carolina. Despite denials from the Dolphins, their addition of Larry Johnson suggested that's how they felt.

And today, Thomas himself confirmed it.

"I would say that's about right," Thomas said "I've just got to lower my pads and trust my blocks and everything like that and I'm trying to get better here at practice and carry it into the next game."

Thomas is getting encouragement to make his adjustments and improvements from those around him. After his first down run failed Friday, quarterback Chad Henne told him in the huddle to hit the hole harder on second down.

And coach Tony Sparano apparently also suggested Thomas run a wee bit harder by getting on the player's case in practice.

"Yeah he was," Thomas said. "He was just telling me I need to get it in there and to stop tippy-toeing and everything like that. It was true though."